Sunday, September 15, 2024

Hi, art lovers!

(Evan Mitsui/CBC)

It's the final day of TIFF — and my last chance to catch you up on festival coverage!

While CBC Life was judging the best-dressed stars in Toronto, the critics on Commotion's TIFF in 12 podcast were arguing about movies and festival buzz every day of the week. Hear them dish on the return of body horror; movies about sex workers; a controversial pick for the festival's top flick; and whether Canadian films deserve more of a spotlight at TIFF.

Re: Canadian film … it’s a subject CBC Arts has leaned into hard. As I mentioned last week, we asked a bunch of filmmakers to write personal essays about their festival movies. Ali Weinstein (Your Tomorrow) revealed why she was compelled to make a film about Ontario Place … before it turns into a spa. Philippe Lupien and Marie-Hélène Viens wrote about collaborating as a couple. (Their film, You Are Not Alone, is a story about loneliness ... and aliens.) Karen Chapman told us the story of how she shot her first feature film (Village Keeper) while eight months pregnant. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's a love letter to moms who are running on empty.) José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço unpacked how he adapted an 18th-century megahit into a romcom set in Toronto (Young Werther). Amar Wala had a few choice words for the Canadian film industry; the longtime documentarian brought his first scripted feature (Shook) to TIFF this year, and according to him, making the transition didn't come without a fight. And Ann Marie Fleming shared the inspiration behind Can I Get a Witness?, a speculative sci-fi tale in which everyone elects to die at 50.

Because we promised you eye candy ...

Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett

Calgary’s Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett sent me this mock-up of a project they’ve been developing for the Northern Alps Art Festival, which opened Friday in Japan. For the last several weeks, Caitlind and Wayne have been there, bringing the piece to life. It’s called A Whisper in the Eye of the Storm, and it’s situated behind a Shinto shrine on Lake Kizaki. “[It’s] probably the most beautiful place we will ever work,” writes Caitlind. She and Wayne have designed a structure that reflects — and multiplies — the view of the forest landscape. They’ve hung 20,000 eyeglass lenses from scaffolding that surrounds a cedar tree, and the perspective from inside that web of glass must be absolutely mesmerizing.

Dil Hildebrand

Magna Claustra by Montreal-based artist Dil Hildebrand.

Simon Petepiece

Daisy by Simon Petepiece. (Simon has a solo exhibition, Clearing Corridor Chamber Cave, at Galerie Nicolas Robert in Montreal.)

Taizo Yamamoto

Vancouver’s Taizo Yamamoto has a new book coming out later this month, (Taizo Yamamoto: Carts, Hedges, Lions), and it features detailed drawings like this selection of shrubs and high fences — common city sights that tap into issues of housing and unaffordability in the artist/architect’s hometown.

Lindsay Montgomery

Lindsay Montgomery (seen here) calls her new series of figurines “Despairware.” But how can you wallow when you’re looking at something as whimsically strange and marvellous as this? Lindsay’s showing some of her recent work at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre right now. She’s part of a ceramics exhibition (Elaborate) that’s appearing there through Dec. 29.

You've got to see this

David Cooper

This stage actor left Canada because she could ‘see the glass ceiling’

But Goldy Notay is back and ready to break through it. She’s appearing in two Toronto productions, including Life of Pi.

Image Nation, Interstellar Entertainment

H ow Joseph Kahn got the Ick

Taylor Swift learned a lot about filmmaking from Joseph Kahn, the director behind some of her biggest music videos. But inspiration goes both ways. The pop star had a major influence on Kahn, whose new horror-comedy (Ick) premiered at TIFF.

Vivian Rashotte/CBC

Who gets to be country?

She’s the newest member of the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, but back in the ‘80s, k.d. lang broke the mould by “just being a lesbian, vegetarian country singer.”

Follow this artist

Julianna Biernacki

@j ulianna.the.artist

Julianna Biernacki

I’m borrowing this tip from Madeleine LeBrun, our featured logo artist for September. Madeleine’s a big fan of Julianna’s work. “I’m in love with her rugs and tufted sculptures,” she says.

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!